Americans spent approximately $11 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2012 in an attempt to defy aging. Looking young doesn’t have to be such an expensive endeavor. We exercise our bodies to stay fit, firm and flexible beyond our years, why not exercise our face muscles? Some proponents even insist that exercising your face in the right way can prevent wrinkles just as well as Botox and injectable fillers can. Because eyes are our feature of choice, Glad Lash has selected six exercises to lift eyes, banish eye wrinkles and deflate those unsightly eyebags.
Get that Blood Flowing
Massaging specific acupressure points around the eyes opens up the body’s natural energy flow and stimulates blood circulation to the eye area, thereby nourishing eye tissues, cells and skin, increasing collagen levels and improving elasticity.
Eye Exercise #1: Place your thumbs in the corner of your upper eye sockets, cradled just underneath your brows and the ridge of your nose. Keeping your eyes closed, massage with small, but firm, inward circles to boost blood flow around the eyes, nose and center of the face. Twice a day for a minute per session will help minimize eye wrinkles, including crow’s feet, as well as under eye bags.
Eye Exercise #2: Place your forefingers at the outer corners of your eyes, directly in line with your temples. Massage with tiny, but firm, outward circles. One minute, morning and evening, will tackle crow’s feet and under eye wrinkles, as well as firm the skin on the upper cheeks.
Eye Exercise #3: Place your forefingers under your eyes, directly beneath your pupils. Keeping your eyes open, massage with small, firm outward circles in order to diminish eyebags and under eye wrinkles.
Strengthen those Eye Muscles
While random, funny faces can lead to more wrinkles, specific face exercises can actually enhance the production of collagen and elastin, thereby dissolving wrinkles and firming the skin.
Eye Exercise #4 Þ Strengthen your eye muscles with a natural lifting exercise by raising your eyebrows as high as possible for a five second hold. Repeat five to ten times per day.
Eye Exercise #5 Þ Cynthia Rowland, creator of Facial Magic, a program of facial exercises designed to lift and firm face muscles naturally, suggests the following exercise to lift the eyes and smooth the forehead. Rowland recommends wearing gloves in order to create resistance and traction so the muscles have to work a bit harder.
Place your three middle fingers directly underneath your eyebrows, cupping your face gently with the palms of your hands. Push your eyebrows up with your fingertips as high as you can, pushing slightly outward toward the temples. Hold for five seconds. On the next few repetitions, hold for ten second intervals for a total of 35 seconds.
Eye Exercise #6 Þ This is more of an all over facial exercise developed by yoga expert and author of The Yoga Face,Annelise Hagen. Squeeze every muscle in your body tight on an inhale. Exhale, relaxing the muscles, sticking out your tongue and opening your eyes wide. Really stretch out that tongue! Hold for 60 seconds, rest and repeat three times.
